A rebuilt sales summary report went from taking over 15 hours to under 15 minutes.

Home Financing Company Needed Reliable SugarCRM Support for Heavily-Customized Application

Company’s Account Executives Discover Efficiencies with Customizations

(Richmond, Va. - August 13, 2009) Guidance Residential, a home-financing firm based in Reston, Va., needed its customer and prospect information to be kept up-to-date, connected, and consistent in both its customer relationship management application (SugarCRM) and loan origination system (DestinyLOS). To ensure efficiency across the sales platform, Guidance’s sales representatives ("Account Executives" or "AE’s") needed to rely on accurate customer and lead information in both systems, which could be achieved via integration.

Suha Beidas Zehl, Director of Information Technology at Guidance Residential, said, “Our Account Executives needed a better tool to manage their pipelines. Until we introduced the CRM system, they were using DestinyLOS, which is a great system but did not offer the expanded set of functionality that the AE’s needed."

Because its former SugarCRM vendor was unable to fully integrate the systems, the organization turned to Allegro, a nearby SugarCRM partner in Glen Allen, Va. for this large project. Allegro successfully integrated both systems for Guidance and eliminated the need for AE’s to input lead information in two systems, which was a time-consuming and redundant process. Integrating SugarCRM with the LOS has allowed Guidance Residential to give its Account Executives an application much better suited to their needs.

With fewer Account Executives having to use the LOS system, the organization overall has reduced LOS licensing costs and has experienced improved data integrity by having SugarCRM checks for duplicates.

"Allegro’s project management team has always been a good sounding board - consistently coming up with various options for us to consider," said Beidas Zehl.

Eventually, Guidance wants its Account Executives using SugarCRM to do all of their tasks pertaining to the origination of a mortgage. The company sees its Account Executives using SugarCRM not just for initial lead information collection purposes but also for running the credit report, automated underwriting, generating decisions, etc.

AE's will no longer have to manually update the data in the LOS as SugarCRM will automatically do this for them. With this second phase of the integration process, if AE's make any changes to leads, SugarCRM will check to ensure the data has been synched with the LOS. Thus, they would solely do their work within SugarCRM and not have to go into the LOS.

"Integrating SugarCRM with our LOS will ensure seamless collaboration between the sales and operation/fulfillment sides of the organization, which will continue to use the LOS to complete the sale," according to Beidas Zehl. "We eliminated the need to do double-entry. Leads are created in the CRM and synced to the LOS. In the past, they (account executives) would enter the leads in the CRM and then have to re-enter them in the LOS."

SugarCRM supports Guidance’s U.S. - based Account Executives as well as the company’s offshore call center. SugarCRM is also integrated with Guidance’s website. The call center representatives contact prospects, which come through the integrated website or from purchased lists. The representatives pass along the leads to the account representatives, who then sell their products to turn them into customers.

"In the past (pre-Sugar), Account Executives either relied on yellow stickies or their memories to manage their pipeline. SugarCRM has certainly given them a much-needed solution,” Beidas Zehl said.

Currently, all contract (mortgage) functions are done by the DestinyLOS, while the leads are still in SugarCRM. Leads from Guidance’s website are automatically dumped into the firm’s SugarCRM application. Then account executives are assigned leads in SugarCRM on a round-robin basis, making this an easy, convenient process. Since alert functions are set in place, each account executive knows when he or she has been assigned a lead, so work can begin virtually immediately.

According to Beidas Zehl, the firm is working with Allegro to upgrade its SugarCRM and additional website enhancements, which will help satisfy its customer needs. Guidance continues to partner with Allegro on other important projects such as upgrading its SugarCRM and further website enhancements, which will help meet the company’s changing business processes and satisfy customer needs.

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About Allegro

Allegro delivers professional open-source and Progress software development and support to small and medium-sized businesses throughout North America, while it is headquartered in Glen Allen, Va. Its experienced Progress, Oracle, MySQL, and MS SQL database administrators, programmers, and trainers install, customize, and integrate mission-critical applications such as ERP/MRP/CRM and accounting. Allegro’s customers have included EURPAC, McKesson, J.M. Waller, U.S. Air Force, the Department of Defense, Cargill, WorldStrides, Virginia T’s and Northrop Grumman. Learn more about Allegro at http://www.AllegroConsultants.com/about-allegro-consultants.

Contact:

Laura Woodard
Allegro
Marketing and Public Relations
804-553-1130
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Using EventBoard Makes Managing Your Conference Easier!

PUG Challenge has announced that they will be using EventBoard to help conference attendees manage their schedules better. EventBoard is a free app that allows you to view and search for conference sessions by name, speaker, track, and time slot. Once a conference catalog is downloaded, the information is stored locally on your device, making it accessible even if you’re not. You can also plan sessions, rate sessions and mark favorite sessions.For more information on PUGChallenge's use of this app, visit PUGChallenge.org.

Spring 2012 PUG Presentations Now Available!

A big thank you to Progress Software for hosting the Spring 2012 VA and NC PUG meetings. In case you missed it, this was a great opportunity to hear from Progress itself regarding all of the great new offerings in OpenEdge 11. Progress presented on topics such as Progress Developer Studio, Developing Business Process Applications, Multi-Tenancy, and Cloud Security. All of the presentations are available for download at PUGCentral.org. To access these and other helpful documents, you will need to register first. Go to "downloads" and select "presentations". Visit PUGCentral.org today!

Date Change for the Spring 2012 NC PUG Meeting

Please note that the date for the Spring 2012 NC PUG meeting has changed. The meeting, which will be part of the OpenEdge Release Tour, will be held on Tuesday, April 17th. The location will be the Keystone Systems offices as usual.

Visit Allegro At Business After Hours!

On February 16th, Allegro will be exhibiting at one of Richmond's Premier Networking events; Business After Hours. From 5:30 to 7:30pm you can enjoy refreshments and door prizes with your fellow Richmond businesses at the Torque Club!

Allegro will be on hand to show you how SugarCRM can make keeping in touch with your clients a breeze! Also, if you are ready to expand your business and want to sell your products online, we can share our expertise with Magento - a flexible yet, robust ecommerce solution.

We can't wait to meet you!

Upcoming conferences

Allegro Hopes to See You Soon!

There are many opportunities to explore the world of opensource and osCommerce this year. Below are some great conferences aimed at helping you learn how to gain a web presence and start selling online! Allegro can help you expand your business to the web! Already have a website and ready to start selling your products online? Contact Allegro today!

imagine eCommerce

April 23-25, 2012
Las Vegas, NV
Imagine is where merchants, partners, developers and Magento enthusiasts from around the world come together for three days in an engaging and exciting environment for collaboration, learning, networking, inspiration… and of course – Imagination!

DrupalCon

March 19-23, 2012
Denver, CO

DrupalCon Denver is the official conference of the Drupal community. DrupalCon is a biannual event presented to an ever-expanding international audience since Drupal became an open-source project in 2001. It's put on by a fabulous group of volunteers and organizers from across the globe.
The Colorado Convention Center will accommodate the largest and most active gathering of Drupal developers and users in the heart of downtown Denver, Colorado.
DrupalCon is a world-class conference with a world-wide audience. If you or your organization actively use Drupal, or even if you never have but want to learn, DrupalCon is your chance to engage the community, learn from others, and share your experiences. Training sessions will be available before the conference on March 19th and a code and contribution sprint on March 23rd (view full program).

DrupalCon Denver's theme, "Collaborative Publishing for Every Device," is a study on the shift of web access from traditional desktops to mobile devices, phones or tablets, and with it the greater combination of platforms Drupal leverages and integrates. The overall conference theme will be integrated into eight different categories: check out the Session Tracks page to read more about the subjects that will be covered at DrupalCon Denver or dive into the ~100 sessions on the schedule thus far!

Joomla! World Conference

November 16-18, 2012
San Jose, CA
The Joomla! Project is pleased to announce that the first Joomla World Conference will occur in November 2012 in San Jose, CA. More details are to come, save the date!

Mike Lonski Attends Business Briefing in Washington D.C.

Mike Lonski, President of Allegro, was one of 25 people from the Richmond business community to travel to Washington D.C. to be part of a business leader briefing session at the White House. The group met with Obama administration officials on Thursday, November 17th to discuss a variety of topics that affect business owners including; economic growth and health care reform. The meetings are an effort to bring business leaders into the policy making process.

Tom Bascom to Speak at the VA and NC PUG Meetings

Tom Bascom, of White Star Software, is well-known in the Progress Community for his consulting expertise and experience with OpenEdge. He is a frequent speaker at Progress Exchange and Progress User Groups. His widely acclaimed and freely downloadable Progress tool set is used by Progress DBA's around the world.

Tom's Talk Overview:

Database Management Worst Practices

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Calling widespread bad habits in database administration "Worst Practices" may seem extreme. However, when you consider the critical nature of
most data, and just how damaging data loss or corruption can be - it seems pretty dead-on.

Although these behaviors are distressingly common among DBAs, they are curable with some shrewd management intervention. What follows is a
guide to the habits we consider to be the worst along with some ideas on how to successfully eliminate them.

Using the Progress Profiler

================

The most confounding performance problems are often application coding issues. These problems can be far more difficult (and expensive) to
diagnose and cure than hardware or database & operating system tuning problems. A very powerful, yet little known tool that helps you take the
guesswork out of the equation in order to target real problems rather than chasing phantoms and produce dependable results is the Profiler. The
Profiler can be used in all versions and on all platforms of Progress from v8.2 forward.

This talk will cover practical usage of the profiler and includes demo code that you can put to work immediately.

Both meetings will be held from 1-5pm with a networking lunch from 12- 1pm. Please contact Amy at (804) 553-1130 or email agray@allegroconsultants.com by 10/7 if you would like to register for the upcoming meeting.

Virginia PUG Meeting:

Tuesday, October 11th
Allegro’s Office
9800 J.E.B. Stuart Parkway, Suite 106
Glen Allen, VA 23059
(804) 553-1130
Directions: http://www.allegroconsultants.com/allegro-consultants-office-directions

North Carolina PUG Meeting:

Wednesday, October 12th
Keystone Systems
8016 Glenwood Avenue
Suite 200
Raleigh, NC 27612
(919) 782-1143
You can use MapQuest or Google Maps. To see it on GoogleMaps: http://tinyurl.com/3chuzu

Fall 2011 PUG Meetings Announced

Mark your calendars now to attend the next PUG meetings. Allegro was unable to hold the Spring series and now there is so much to catch up on! We will hold the VAPUG meeting on Tuesday, October 11th in the Allegro offices in Glen Allen. The NCPUG meeting will be held on Wednesday, October 12th at the Keystone offices, as usual. Both meetings are scheduled 12PM - 5PM. Enjoy networking with fellow Progress users and partners while learning about the latest Progress technologies. Catch up with your peers during our free catered lunch at noon! The presentations will begin around 1 p.m. and end around 5 p.m. The meetings are free of charge!

Please contact me, Amy Gray at (804) 553-1130 or agray@allegroconsultants.com to confirm your attendance and update your contact information. This will ensure you are notified of the final meeting details and future events. I also need to know if you will be joining us for lunch so that I can include you in the meal planning.

Speakers and topics will be posted shortly. We look forward to seeing all of you soon!

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Progress and all Progress-based marks are trademarks or registered trademarks of Progress Software Corporation.
Any other unmarked trademarks contained herein are the property of their respective owners.